Identifying Reliable Diagnostic/Predictive Biomarkers for Rheumatoid Arthritis

Introduction and objective:Elevated C-reactive protein is usually a good indicator of rheumatoid arthritis (RA); however, there are limitations that compromise its specificity and therefore there is an urgent need to identify more reliable diagnostic biomarkers to detect early stages of RA. In addition, identifying the correct therapeutic biomarker for the treatment of RA using methotrexate (MTX) would greatly increase the benefits experienced by the patients.Materials and methods:Primary normal synoviocytes human fibroblast-like synoviocytes (HFLS) and its phenotype rheumatic HFLS-RA cells were chosen for this study. The HFLS-RA–untreated and MTX-treated cells were subjected to microarray analysis.Results:Microarray data identified 74 differentially expressed genes. These genes were mapped against an RA inflammatory pathway, shortlisting 10 candidate genes. Gene expression profiling of the 10 genes were studied. Fold change (FC) was calculated to determine the differential expression of the samples.Discu...